Life to the Max Podcast
Welcome to 'Life to the Max Podcast,' where resilience meets inspiration!
Join us on a transformative journey through the life stories of remarkable individuals, including Quadriplegic Army Veteran Maximilian Gross. In this empowering podcast, we dive into tales of triumph, courage, and the human spirit's unwavering ability to overcome obstacles.
Our show is a celebration of diverse narratives, from awe-inspiring achievements to the darkest of traumas. 'Life to the Max' is a testament to the power of living authentically, no matter the circumstances. We believe that everyone has a unique story worth sharing, and we invite individuals from all walks of life to join us.
Discover the profound meaning of living 'Life to the Max'—a concept that resonates differently with each storyteller. It's a journey of perspective, resilience, and finding joy amidst life's challenges. Tune in to be inspired, motivated, and reminded that there's strength in every story.
Ready to redefine what it means to live life to the fullest? Share your story with us and become a part of this uplifting community. Because, at 'Life to the Max,' every story matters.
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Life to the Max Podcast
From Sizzle to Success: A Grill Master's Journey with Luis Meza
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They say life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, but for Luis Mesa, it's all about embracing the sizzle of the moment. On our latest adventure through soundwaves, we've roped in the master griller himself to share his culinary journey – from igniting passions with a single Weber Grill to char-broiling his way onto Daytime Chicago. Our plates are full with mouth-watering discussions on brisket, Memphis-style BBQ, and the secret sauce behind Luis's delectable wings that had us all begging for seconds.
Bringing down the house with laughter, nostalgia, and sage advice, we wrap things up by steering the conversation from history classes to heartfelt life lessons. Get ready to navigate career pivots, and remember the value of treasuring every tick of the clock. We leave you with Luis's parting wisdom to live life to the max, a sentiment echoed in every beat of this episode, reminding you to savor each moment, just like a perfectly grilled wing.
Grill Master and Food Influencer
Speaker 1And a recipe for butterfly chicken legs. Meza Grills Louise Meza. Hi there, good morning. All right, you've got quite a spread here.
Speaker 2Yeah, I brought you guys some of what's on the menu. The star of the show is obviously the butterfly chicken legs. I'm going to be showing you guys how to make those today. But here we have the jalapeno poppers, the al pastor ribs, the beef barbacoa with the ajou and some crispy smoked chicken wings.
Speaker 3Okay, so we'll get into all of these in just a second, but this is not even something you do full-time. This is a side hustle, but man is it awesome.
Speaker 4I can't rap to this.
Speaker 5Yeah, you can rap.
Speaker 4All right, all right, let's do this. All right.
Speaker 3Yeah, me and Max, we getting paid Every day. That's what we say. Let him hate, hold on, uh, hey, hey, hey. Uh, me and Max, we getting paid Every day. Why is this kind of hard? We getting paid. Hey, hey, let him hate, that's what we do. So it's fuck you.
Speaker 1If you in a trude, you hit that though it's after me and Max In the cut. We don't give two shits and we don't give a fuck. It's what we do. And shit to prove we living life to the max, To the max, to the max.
Speaker 5I be smoking shit it's a drag, living life to the max, just like my bad cats, I like this.
Speaker 4I actually ended up really liking that beat. The more we went on it, the menace Look at it.
Speaker 5Look at it. Look at it Pause.
Speaker 4Yeah, pause series.
Speaker 5Let's go.
Speaker 4We getting straight to business, we getting straight to business, we getting straight to business. I'm extra cool with it today, fellas. I got the Prada sunglasses on me, you know, gifted by the one. And only Look at him, max. Look at the quad, father, he got the Prada glasses on too. Yo make some noise, so the auto cameras just go to you In the frame.
Speaker 4I got the Prada glasses, glasses on too hey, you see it, his is white, though he's a little more flashy. We got lewis in the building, we got luis mesa and uh he did his damn thing today. He, he grilled these wings for us. Yes, I did you know, and uh, we gonna get right into lewis's interview and eat these wings simultaneously right after the Quadfather's intro.
Speaker 5Well, actually, eric, I'm only going to have one wing, because that protein shake really hit the spot.
Speaker 4What Yo fuck that protein shake.
Speaker 5Push that protein shake to the gallbladder, hello everybody Paralyzed from a neck down, breathing through a machine. But that doesn't stop me from following my dreams, doing what I love to do. I don't got an excuse, and neither should you. Let's get into this let's get into this what's up?
Speaker 4guys, you did this to us.
Speaker 2I did I.
Speaker 4I actually am responsible for the shades yeah, that's what that's the power of influence. They say you're a product of your environment and luis is the type of man walks in the room and you know he got influence on the whole crowd wherever he's at. That's why he caters groups. That's why he caters his food at these events. He kills that shit thank you, brother actually I ain't even gonna speak too soon.
Speaker 5I'm gonna taste this are you gonna eat with us cheers?
Speaker 4absolutely salute, salute, salute, max. To eat with us Cheers. Absolutely Salud, max.
Speaker 5Salud, salud, max, it's really good. Can you wipe my mouth?
Speaker 4Yeah, this shit is trash. I'm going to need some barbecue sauce on this. More, please, this shit is what you put on this.
Speaker 5Rat poison. It's gummy Rat poison.
Speaker 4You go for the extra or trident type of vibe.
Speaker 2I go for the Michelin Almost like a jerky. You ever have Michelin, I'm just playing.
Speaker 4This is actually kind of fire. Thank you, this is raw.
Speaker 5Yeah, no, it's good, it's really good.
Speaker 2I smoked it with hickory Hickory, hickory Hickory, and seasoned them with Kinder's wood fire garlic.
Speaker 4Nice yeah, nice yeah.
Speaker 5A lot of seasoning on this, so you're a grill master.
Speaker 2I wouldn't consider myself a grill master, but I know my way around a grill.
Speaker 5Okay.
Speaker 2I think you need years.
Speaker 5What is?
Speaker 2the hardest thing to cook. The hardest thing to cook. The hardest thing to cook, yeah, is probably brisket, just because it takes the longest and you have to tend to it the longest, right? But I mean, if you're following step by step what to do, it's easy.
Speaker 5It's just hard to remain consistent so you know all these like barbecue places, like you know kansas city, uh st louis, uh south carolina, all these like you know iconic, you know nostalgic barbecue places. What would you say is your favorite?
Speaker 2um, I really like, uh, style.
Speaker 5Memphis, so good.
Speaker 2I think them and Carolina.
Speaker 5Shout out to Jabberant I think he'll be holding a gun with his two little fingers and he'll go get chicken with you.
Speaker 2Shout out Jabberant. Say no to guns people. Why does he always have a gun on him?
Speaker 4Bro, I don't understand it. I don't understand it. He was holding it like this yeah. That's not even proper. You know Ways to hold a firearm.
Speaker 5But anyways, I think it was with a key lock too.
Speaker 2It was. He was listening to Youngboy, both times, I think.
Speaker 4You know I could dive into this In so many different directions, but we gonna stick to the food. And, uh, I really want to know. I really want to know, louise, you were recently broadcasted on on what? Daytime chicago you were on daytime chicago. Yes, I thought that was you on tv. It was. I didn't believe.
Speaker 2Yeah, I kind of snuck in through the back. That guy looks like Lewis. Yeah, and it was yeah. Shout out, claire Shout out.
Speaker 4Danny, tell us about that experience.
Speaker 2You know what I started cooking, broadcasting on social media my friends, they tried the food, they liked it. I got a friend who works for wgn and she was nice enough to say, hey, you know what you know, maybe you can come on the show sometime I was like I was kind of intimidated. I'm not gonna lie. I was like shit, I've never been on tv right wait a question, was she hot? Claire's claire's a beautiful woman, okay out, claire.
Speaker 5That definitely adds pressure.
Speaker 2She's one of my best friends, girlfriends.
Speaker 5She's single.
Speaker 2She's not single. He just said best friend's girlfriend she's single. No, claire's awesome she's married. No, they're not married.
Speaker 5Okay, cool.
Speaker 2Claire talked to danny and danny he kind of like shot it at me. He's like, hey, man, you know claire mentioned she could probably get you on the show, and right away I just said, yes, you know, I I felt that little voice in the back of my head like man, am I really like good enough? You know, like I kind of self-doubting, you know, and you know I said, yeah, fuck it. You know, let's do it. And a couple months went by. I kind of started beefing up my social media, um, just because I wanted to make, I wanted to have a larger footprint and before or after that experience after that, yeah, I bet, after that experience that was a push and not for nothing.
Speaker 4I was talking shit. But on the second wing I just gotta hype you up because this shit got me feeling some type of way. This shit is smacking right now fellas thank you this shit is smacking. You've done your thing.
Speaker 2This is my pride and joy, right here jigging wings very nice yeah, I don't like the wings you made last time.
Speaker 4I'm gonna be yo, that was, that was last year's model, that was last year. Yeah, it's been like exactly a year.
Speaker 5I don't like that type of wing. Is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2How did I make them? No, no, no.
Speaker 5I don't like the type of wing you bought. If they were like actual chicken wings.
Speaker 4Oh, I think they were larger, yeah, larger like a big drum and a big Like the ones you get from they might have been frozen Fre, the ones you get from freaking Harold's Chicken or whatever. Listen, food is my love language. I don't care. If anybody cooks for me, I am eternally grateful, and if it's delicious I am extra eternally grateful. You're talking about the chicken legs.
Speaker 5Yeah. So, speaking of WGN, why the fuck are you wearing that monstrosity of a fucking hat?
Speaker 2Wow, this is my curse A Bears fan for life.
Speaker 4Next week. He was a Bears fan.
Speaker 2You couldn't pick a worse team to root for?
Speaker 4Are they at the bottom right now? Are we the worst?
Speaker 5team. We're probably the worst team.
Speaker 4Doesn't that mean we're going to get a dope ass pickup?
Speaker 5It does. But we're the worst when it comes to the office too. Not the worst, but doesn't that mean we're going to get like a dope ass, like pickup, next season? We're like the worst, like when it comes to the office too. Like not the players, yeah.
Speaker 4But didn't somebody just get fired? So we about to.
Speaker 2Organizationally it's a dumpster fire.
Speaker 4Listen, when you're going through hard times, you know it's about adapting it things. It's about letting go and embracing the new, and that's what we're about to do.
Speaker 5Okay, but listen like not to go on a football rant, okay, but I love football.
Speaker 4He loves football, you don't? Yeah, I don't know shit about football, but I do know about principle.
Speaker 5We went to the Kansas City game right and you know how loud that stadium gets.
Speaker 2You went last week. No, we went a year ago, eric actually invited me to go with you guys.
Speaker 5To go see Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2Trevor.
Speaker 5Lawrence. Yeah, he was good man and T-Law is good man. I love T-Law, me too. But why the fuck are you keeping your freaking franchise quarterback in when you're down 41-0, like in the fourth quarter? There's no point. Take him out and then he gets hit.
Speaker 2I agree, by Chris Jones. I don't know who hit him. I know he got punched in the face, though he got robbed.
Speaker 5Yeah, it took him a little bit to get up and I was like oh fuck.
Speaker 2Yeah, dj Moore had to pull him to the side and say get the fuck out.
Speaker 4Damn. I feel like that hit would feel a lot worse when you're down by 40 points.
Speaker 5I mean it wasn't like the hit. It wasn't like the hit we saw at Kansas City. This hit was fucking crazy. We saw at Kansas City. Eric was talking to my lawyers and the family, so we get.
Speaker 4We get gifted some seats and get the Kansas city chiefs game. Was it a suite? It was nice. It was that sweet that you've seen. If that's what you're talking about, Were you in Taylor Swift's suite?
Speaker 2I don't, I don't know. You remember? Did you not watch the game last week?
Speaker 5Taylor Swift was at the she was at the.
Speaker 2Yeah, swift was at the.
Speaker 5She was at the. Yeah, I was talking to him About it and I was saying, like Travis Kelsey is, you know his Jerseys went up 400%, like in sales All the Swift and. Eric's like yeah, they're probably Not dating, they're probably doing it For like a stunt.
Speaker 4Or something Because of I'm saying. I'm saying that tactic Is popular, it's true. Like if you're in Hollywood and you're buzzing and there's another female that's buzzing, you know why not arrange a partnership. So your fans are like, oh my God, they're dating. And then you combine your brands and boom, that's more money, double the money.
Speaker 2I think they're dating. The NFL came up. Let's just say that.
Speaker 4At the end of the day, it's all conspiracy, so you won't be able to prove this, but you can prove. When Beyonce and Jay-Z staged their divorce, when they staged that Jay-Z was cheating and then Beyonce released her album and everyone was like, oh my god, you know she's talking about Jay-Z. And then they even staged a little elevator fight like Jay-Z, like fake, like remember that all fake, it was all publicity.
Speaker 5Okay, entertainment, america loves the drama. Let's get back to the this hit, and we're gonna put the clip in too, because this hit was crazy it was.
Speaker 4How are we?
Speaker 5gonna find that clip, so I can.
Speaker 4We'll find the clip if we don't find the clip, I apologize juju smith schuster.
Speaker 5He got rocked and we were right next to him, like you could literally hear the crunch. It was crazy it was wild.
Speaker 4I honestly I don't watch football a lot and I've never seen a head like that. And and I was talking to max's what max's lawyer's wife, you know and they gifted us these seats, so I'm trying to stay professional. I'm like, yeah, you know, thank you for this. Opportunity means a lot to max. Road trip out here was was a little tough, but you know this, thank you for this opportunity. It means a lot to Max. Road trip out here was a little tough, but you know this is a blessing. Talking real, you know, trying to be articulate with my words, and as I'm talking, yada, yada, yada, pow, I'm like God damn, you know what I'm saying. I just lost my character in front of her.
Speaker 3I'd seen her like give me that side eye never heard something like that.
Speaker 5You don't understand. This guy did like a freaking helicopter.
Speaker 4It was like some NFL street video game shit.
Speaker 2I'm trying to remember that it's not ringing a bell. If we find it, we'll do it and I also apologize if I'm chewing on the microphone.
Speaker 5Fellas, this shit is still smacking but I feel like I will not wear bear stuff until they fix their shit.
Speaker 2That's okay, Max.
Speaker 5That doesn't make you any less of a fan, that's not okay, Max.
Speaker 2Max, there's a lot of people that will look at you and say you're not a real fan.
Speaker 4That's me.
Speaker 5I'm a diehard fan. I'm just not going to wear their shit.
Speaker 4If you can't support me at my lowest, you don't deserve me at my highest.
Speaker 2It's hard man, it's hard I. I struggle with that shit, dude.
Speaker 5This season was so hype like the off season. They're like, yeah, we got dj more, now we got chase claypool who's fucking trash now it's terrible there's nothing worse than being constantly let down and still supporting. I'm constantly buying Dude we could have got Austin Eckler and then he said fuck it, let's get Deontay Foreman. Who the fuck is Deontay Foreman? I know who he is.
Speaker 2We could have got Saquon.
Speaker 5We could have got Saquon. And you're like what the fuck? Is wrong we could have got Chris Jones. Yeah, motherfuckers are so stupid. All right, anyways, back to your cooking.
Speaker 2What made you get into this Cooking? I've always loved cooking, but I was gifted a grill and I was like well, I got to put this thing to use.
Speaker 5I was gifted a grill too.
Speaker 2Yeah, and then I just wanted to use it. So I was like you know what?
Speaker 4Boom, let's go and you also work at Weber Grill. Yes, I do. Way to combine the best of both worlds.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was a little gift from my job and I put it to work. People loved the food. I love feeding people.
Speaker 4And then someone at your job gave you the opportunity to go on the show with it. No, no, oh, I gave you the opportunity to go on the show with it. No, no, oh, I'm not paying attention to detail I fucking hate feeding people.
Speaker 5Like I, I would not want to cook for a bunch of people. I would hate it, I would. I would be like like get the fuck out of here. Like, honestly, I, honestly, I, I would. I don't care for cooking for a bunch of people, you know I don't.
Speaker 4If I were to share my opinion, I can share your pleasure, like like when I cook for someone, like it's like with love. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5And seeing someone enjoy it, that's that's rewarding.
Speaker 4It's a love language, Max. Be the first person to be like yes, sorry, you know not say shit about it.
Speaker 5Thank you for cooking this meal.
Speaker 4I'll be sitting here twiddling my thumbs, trying to get feedback.
Speaker 5Did you like it? How'd you like the lemon?
Speaker 4Can you tell what I put in it?
Speaker 5Can you tell what I put this in? It's just snacks, right? It's really good, right? I got it in case before you came in.
Speaker 4He'll be like dude, shut the fuck up. You sound like a housewife. Wow, I'm just trying to eat.
Speaker 5Meanwhile he grabs the vacuum and starts vacuuming the house.
Speaker 4He'll be like bro, go edit the fucking podcast, or something.
Speaker 5Get out of my fucking face.
Speaker 2Tending to people is rewarding for me. I like people putting stuff in their mouths and saying, well, that's great.
Speaker 5Well, at least you know someone has to do it, so that's good. So what's the most food you've cooked in one sitting?
Speaker 2I made 12 pork butts in one day. A pork butt, it's like some people call them pork shoulders Pork ass? Yeah, pork ass. Is it literally the behind of the pork? No, it's like some people call them pork shoulder. There's a pork ass yeah, pork ass.
Speaker 4Is it literally the behind of the?
Speaker 2pork.
Speaker 4No, it's like a shoulder.
Speaker 2They call it the butt Because it looks like a butt, I guess.
Speaker 4Where did that name come from?
Speaker 2That's a good question. I never even looked that up.
Speaker 4Jamie, I'm just kidding, let's just call it pork shoulder. If my hands weren't greasy I'd look at it.
Speaker 2There's a shoulder and then there's the hind quarter. That's the butt, because it's in the hind but it's not the ass, it's just the hind quarter, and it varies in size, but it's typically around 8 to 15, sometimes 20 pounds, depending on the pork, the pig. But yeah, I cook 12 of them, or no, yeah, 12.
Speaker 412 in one one day you said 8 to 20 pounds each. Yeah, it varies, so let's just throw a random number out there and say it's 120 pounds did you do it on your grill?
Speaker 2I did it on two grills. Two grills. I woke up at maybe three o'clock in the morning and then it wasn't done until noon yeah, so um when did you start this venture?
Speaker 5uh 2022 2022, yeah, like right around, when I came by that one time.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's when I started. You're still a freshman in the game. Yeah, man, I'm. I'm earning my wings, I'm earning my stripes, I'm just trying to get good at no pun intended I'm trying to get good at what?
Speaker 4one year in the game?
Speaker 2yeah, man, I'm, I'm earning my wings I'm earning my stripes, I'm just trying to get good, no pun intended. I'm trying to get good at what one year in the game and this motherfucker gets broadcasted on television uh, yeah, I'm very blessed for the opportunity again shout out claire and danny man, they really, they really, uh, gave me an opportunity and I, I, I took it and I ran with it, you know, and I felt like I I did well, for my first time on live TV.
Speaker 4Bro, honestly I was so happy when I seen that shit on Snapchat when you posted it.
Speaker 5It was so fun. We'll make sure to put it in too. It was so fun, man so cool.
Speaker 2Everyone there was really nice. They made it really easy to do what I do and the interviewers, the ladies that were doing their job, were killing it. There was a live band there that I got to see. Um, the drummer from maroon five is I forgot his name.
Speaker 5That's awesome he.
Speaker 2He has his own band and you know he's. He's a grammy nominated artist, so you know to be there listening to them while I'm prepping up my station, making sure everything's right for TV. It was such a fun time.
Speaker 5Where was?
Speaker 2it. It was in Chicago. Where Chicago's a big place, I'm not really sure the exact side.
Speaker 5Was it downtown?
Speaker 2No, no, it wasn't downtown. Okay, all right.
Speaker 5Yeah, well, that's pretty cool that you were able to do that. It probably, like you said, said helped your business tremendously yeah, yeah, I was doing a.
Speaker 2I was doing a lot more orders than you know when before I went on the show, so that was cool, man. I I appreciate all the support. Um, I'm glad people like the food. Um, I like feedback, good or bad. So I like it good, good or bad, you know, it doesn't matter. I want to know people's honest opinion on what I'm I'm making.
Speaker 5So are you like investing, like? Are you like um, making sure you like save money and stuff, yeah, or are you you spending it like a drunken sailor?
Speaker 2No man, I'm trying to save as much as I can. My plan is to go completely mobile, so I want to get a smoker on wheels. I got the truck. I want to be able to get a smoker I can tow to events.
Speaker 5Yeah, do you pull up to United Center, you pull up to Soldier Field with that thing.
Speaker 2Yeah, I could do that. I could, you know, just pull up in like a brewery's parking lot and just make sure they're cool with it.
Speaker 5Or concerts, conciertos, yeah, conciertos.
Speaker 2We can do it all, man. I could pull up to your house, and then you know I can pull up here we were all.
Speaker 5We were thinking about having an event where we invite, like most, most of the people that have been on the podcast and uh, we were. He makes great empanadas, is he?
Speaker 2He's not Mexican, right, he's Puerto Rican. Oh, he's Puerto Rican. Yeah, do you know? No, I've heard of a few empanada guys. There was an Argentinian one though.
Speaker 5He's like the goat, I guess, around here with empanadas and he works Nightmare on Elm Street.
Speaker 2Are you guys going to Chicago or?
Speaker 5Nightmare on Chicago Street. I want to. I've never done it before.
Speaker 2I've never done it either.
Speaker 5So I think it would be fun.
Speaker 4I've never done anything.
Speaker 5I think it would be, cool to wear a costume too.
Speaker 2What would you wear so?
Speaker 5I could do Superman or I could do like professor, yeah the guy from x-men um I could be.
Speaker 2Uh, dr evil, yeah, whoa that's wow we're thinking the same yeah, we're.
Speaker 5We're actually gonna start, like you know, since October coming up, we're gonna start, like you know, serial killer podcast serial killer podcast yeah, just like you know one or two.
Speaker 2I would love to be there, yeah no, it's really intriguing.
Speaker 5I don't know, I couldn't. I don't know. Me and Eric were watching American Pimp yesterday. I don't understand a damn thing about it American.
Speaker 4Pimp Hold on, hold on. We start off with the cooking, then we talk about football, then we talk about other food guys, then we talk about Hold on, hold on. We start off with the cooking, then we talk about football, then we talk about other food guys, then we talk about Hold on. Help me recap. Help me recap Nightmare on Elm Street. Then we talked about Nightmare on Elm Street, then we talked about costumes. We're going to wear.
Speaker 3Then we talked about.
Speaker 4Serial Killer Podcast. Now we're talking about America Pimp.
Speaker 1We can get this pimping on.
Speaker 4Is that the show with Jamie Foxx? We can make this transition.
Speaker 5It's a documentary.
Speaker 4So this came out in 1999. It was made by the same people who created Dead Presidents and Menace to Society. And basically I was thinking about it the other day because I watched it a long time when I was a shorty and, ooh, he lighting up the cigar. Can I smoke the gift? Absolutely, I'm lighting up after him. Fellas, we got wings and cigars on this show. But anyways, this documentary I was thinking about the other day, told Max about it, I said I'm going to look for it. It's not on any streaming service. I guess it's banned because America is soft and they can't talk about this here, pimping Right. So I go online and I try to find it on the internet. It's not even on the internet. Word of advice don't let the blue flame touch the cigar.
Speaker 4You want to roast it, not char it. You got it though.
Speaker 2I'm glad you're here, because I don't. I've never lit it with a torch, like I said.
Speaker 4Should I do a little tutorial for the people? Yes, yes, is yours lit? Let me see your cut.
Speaker 5I top maxed. This is lit. Let me see your code. I taught max this. I taught max this am, I, am, I lying.
Speaker 4I taught max, if he's lying, he's dying. All right, fellas lewis gave me an h upman 1844 reserve. My calculations are correct. This is about a maybe 11, stick right here. Cut the damn thing, bro. What's going on? What's going on?
Speaker 5you don't know about the art of smoking cigars. This is about a maybe $11 stick right here. Cut the damn thing, bro.
History, Education, and Passion
Speaker 4What's going on? What's going on? You don't know about the art of smoking cigars. Wait, wait, wait. Remember when we first started calling the Quadfather the Quadfather and he's like bro, that's not my fucking name, shut the fuck up. Now look at him Fucking. 50 episodes later, it's the Quadfather. I don't have an excuse. Now that you wait, wait, wait till season three comes, his ass is going to be sitting here Like I don't got it. You. Oh, now that should you. Somebody's going to be here. You go, Somebody go take it out of his mouth. Now season four.
Speaker 5I'm going to be like sitting down, but no season four. I'm going to be standing up and boycotting chairs. No C-S.
Speaker 4No, Dude it's going to be. Do you have any other?
Speaker 2nicknames no Sentados I need another nickname for Max.
Speaker 5Max DG Triple X.
Speaker 2Triple X How'd you get that one?
Speaker 5That was my DJ name.
Speaker 2You're a DJ.
Speaker 5Well, I DJ'd like a few times back then.
Speaker 2Why don't you do it anymore?
Speaker 5We were actually just talking about this with Eric, because I have this thing called a glass house and it basically allows me to control a computer and stuff Eric's like. You could totally be a DJ.
Speaker 2You definitely could.
Speaker 4And I was like yeah, Bro, you just got to practice your headbanging when you're playing a song. He has a bite switch it's basically glasses without the lenses and then a little bite switch that hangs from the side that goes in and out, and he'd be fucking and wherever he looks, the mouse goes on the screen. I've seen that I do um.
Speaker 5I dj'd all day yesterday and eric said that me getting no sleep.
Speaker 4By the way, everyone I have no sleep he's running on E Two hours, people, two hours, two hours of sleep.
Speaker 2Yeah, what were you?
Speaker 5doing School School. That's a good excuse I was finishing my class.
Speaker 2Final season. That's crazy.
Speaker 5Yeah, I did it because I'm in Spanish class class and I I was doing rosetta stone, I wanted to finish all of rosetta stone and then I wanted to do, uh, the quiz, and I did the quiz and I gotta fucking see, which pissed me off. But I was like you know, I still got an a for the whole class and I'm like Max, let me hear some Spanish man.
Speaker 2You start Muy bien¿, Te gustó?
Speaker 5el pollo. Sí, me gustó Órale. Sí, me gustó tu pollo mucho, muy mucho. Yes, I like your chicken a lot.
Speaker 2A lot. Thank you very much.
Speaker 5It's not spicy, though? No, it doesn't taste spicy.
Speaker 2It doesn't taste spicy. No, I don't add chili, no, I only add kinders, pure kinders, all right.
Speaker 5So do you have a girlfriend or anything right now?
Speaker 2I do.
Speaker 5And is she pretty proud of you right now.
Speaker 2She's extremely proud and I want to shout her out. She helped me out a lot when we went to WGN. Her and my mom actually tagged along and they helped me prep everything, they helped me with everything. So a huge shout out to them. I made sure to thank them and I owe them one, because, you know, I found myself like man, I'm so like I was just so like tense leading up to the entire event that I was overlookinglooking certain things, and they're like yo, shouldn't we do like this? Yes, you're right, that's a great idea. I'm so glad that I have you here to kind of remind me. You know they. So they were able to reel me in, they were able to kind of ground me in a way and, you know, once I heard the uh, the interviewers uh introduced me. I was like, alright, let's go, it's go time we gotta lock in.
Speaker 5Let's get re-action baby Right.
Speaker 2Right, I don't want to say I turned into a different person, but I definitely tuned into my professional self.
Speaker 5I was able to carry myself. Yeah, I got in the zone.
Speaker 2I locked in and I did stumble Re-watching zone. I locked in and I did stumble, rewatching it. I could say honestly I did stumble a little bit. I wish I could go back and do it again.
Speaker 4He's reviewing the film. Just because I know I can do better.
Speaker 2I think, that's with anything you do, you always look back and say I could have done this.
Speaker 4I could have done that, but that's what next time's for You're going to get another opportunity. Yeah, that's what next time's for you just got your feet wet, baby. Exactly, it ain't nothing but the same super reheated baby.
Speaker 5It's like scare action baby Getting the zone.
Speaker 4I don't know about this here, Pimpy, you made me want to put the glasses back on.
Speaker 2Max, what the fuck is school like?
Speaker 5School. Yeah, so I've only done two classes, right, I did psychology and I've done Spanish. And psychology was a lot easier than Spanish because psychology all I had to do was just read the book. I mean the reading was long, it was like 100 pages a week. You know book, I mean, the reading was long, it was like 100 pages a week and I had to do some projects. But Spanish was on a whole new level and I had to rely on my caregivers and Eric to help me.
Speaker 4And I write all his papers, I take all his tests.
Speaker 5I read all his papers. He's my, his tests. No, you don't. I read all his papers. He's my hands and feet. That's what he is.
Speaker 4And when he's in school, I'm his brain too.
Speaker 2You got Eric taking your tests, bro, no.
Speaker 4He just reminds me what the due date is. He puts it off. His ass gets two hours of sleep, so I'm going to take a nap while you write this paper. How do you say sleeping, Duerma dog?
Speaker 5Dormido, is it no shit?
Speaker 2I thought I said hurt Duele Wow.
Speaker 4I really had zero confidence. I was just blurting a random Spanish Test me again. What does Jeremy mean? Just for the sake of the. You know I am talking shit. Max has gotten an A on his own. Shout out to.
Speaker 5Max for doing the damn thing. I'm proud of you For real me too. I actually got accepted into the National Honor Society or something it was pretty lit.
Speaker 4He has a 4.0 GPApa right now. Let's go that's no word of a lie, I'm impressed.
Speaker 2Because let's be, I'm gonna be honest with you. If I was, you know, doing what you're doing, like with this podcast, you know, just doing all kinds of dope shit I wouldn't even think about bro school was so stressful for me.
Speaker 4I'm saying, like I still have dreams to this day, like if I missed a test, I go to class. Oh shit, there's a test today. Oh shit, a project is due today. I still be getting that anxiety, like I'm fucking up. Like literally last night I had a dream where like I couldn't, I didn, no, I just gave up. I just walked out of the classroom feeling like a failure.
Speaker 2That anxiety is no joke, that Sunday anxiety that you get knowing you got school the next day, oh fuck.
Speaker 5See, that's the thing with my school. It's like a military university, so they really work with you on the schedule. There's no way you have to be in class with a bunch of Zoom people at 6 pm.
Speaker 4Tell the people where you go.
Speaker 5I go to American Military University. There he is. Okay, yeah, I'm ashamed to say it's not like Harvard or anything you know, because it's still a university.
Speaker 4Yeah, bro, you're getting your education on. Yeah, I'm proud of you, I'm a student.
Speaker 5I'm majoring in history you like history?
Speaker 2love history what's your favorite war?
Speaker 5it would probably be either Civil War or World War II.
Speaker 4World War II is nuts if money wasn't, a thing did you see, Oppenheimer I did.
Speaker 2The fact that we took out two cities is terrifying.
Speaker 5We're the only ones that have done it too, which is more crazy.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's the only time it's happened.
Speaker 5And the only reason why Russia has nuclear bombs is because of that spy in Oppenheimer's camp.
Speaker 2They built the largest one right, the SAR bomb.
Speaker 5Or hydrogen. I think yeah.
Speaker 3I think that yeah.
Speaker 5Everybody thinks everybody has nukes in the world, but that's not true. The people who have nukes is China, russia, probably the UK, north Korea and the United States. That's it.
Speaker 2History is awesome. Question how often do you think about the Roman Empire?
Speaker 5I'm not really good with world history, which sucks, but I do know about the roman empire and, uh, you know, like caligula, and um, um, I'm trying to think of the other caesars, uh, julius I mean julia, obviously julius, but there's the augustus. You know, augustus was like one of the best caesars, I guess I heard. But yeah, no, I like Roman history because that's when they bring Christianity into the world. You know, just conquered, yeah.
Speaker 5Just completely spread the word of Christianity, they're still in charge With King. James. King James also helped in the UK. They took over in charge With King James. King James also helped the UK.
Speaker 3They took over the Western world.
Speaker 5Yeah, I love history. You can ask me a question.
Speaker 2There you go.
Speaker 4Bro, I can't even motherfucking. What was the first city that the Spartans took over?
Speaker 2That's very specific.
Speaker 4I don't know, I have the torch, me neither.
Speaker 2I just came up with a question you could have said anything, he would have been like oh, I think it was Athenia.
Speaker 4I don't know so if you were to go, if you were to pick any profession, max, money doesn't matter, you know going to school, you'd be a professor, history professor yeah, no, absolutely.
Speaker 5I would love to be a professor, like you know, twice a week at a university, or like a school near me or, like you know, a community college. That would be great.
Speaker 4What about you, lewis, if money wasn't a thing to purchase schooling? If money wasn't a thing based on income, you know what would you do, just all out of love, what would you go to school for, and what would you choose your profession to be?
Speaker 2I like history, but I feel like I like working with my hands more, so I'd probably get into like woodworking. I don't know if that's something you can do, no, it's pretty cool. It's definitely a thing. Yeah, yeah, I probably learned how to build.
Speaker 5It's called woodshop, just workshop or woodshop.
Speaker 2Yeah yeah, I just feel like there's not enough of that, like everybody's trying to get a degree in life.
Speaker 5That's the thing, they're handing out like the government's hander handing out, you know, not scholarships, but student loans, like crazy, like candy, because they're like, okay, we're just going to make more money off of this person, that person but not everybody is smart enough to go to college, that's true, I learned that the hard way. We need people in trade jobs electricians, plumbers, construction workers. You know. Foremen, that's what we need, or epoxy concrete, you know.
Speaker 2There's nothing wrong with admitting that school isn't for you and they get paid good. They get paid really good, these unions, man. Yeah, they're making a ton of money.
Speaker 5Yeah. So I mean, like I agree with you on that 100%. I mean there's nothing wrong with not going to school, d2 and like pursuing something else in like a trade job, so yeah. But um, yeah, professor of History definitely would be my go-to and I honestly want to go to law school if I man, that's tough.
Speaker 2I feel like you're the guy for it, though 4.0?.
Speaker 5I don't. That's all I'm really into, though, but let's get back to you, man. How was your upbringing growing up?
Speaker 2It was. It was a blessing man. It was great. Um, I grew up in a really tight knit family. I still am very tight knit with my family. Um, I grew up on the South side of Chicago. Uh, may 17th 1993, trinity Hospital, my mom was 17 years old. I mean, imagine having a baby at that age 17,. You're probably scared to death. My mom's the same, yeah.
Speaker 2So, um, well, definitely on the south side in the 90s yeah, it was cool, though, like I got to see a lot of cool shit I mean like, what I mean, you know, like in retrospect right socks fan like oh yeah, big time like I'm good fellas when the guy is like dude, why'd you use these towels?
Speaker 5these were the good towels. It's crazy. You act like you never seen a person who's got shot before, or something like that.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, I never saw any of that, I never saw anybody get shot. But you know there was fights all the time, every day in school. You know the teachers were different, how old were you. When I moved out here.
Speaker 4Yeah, so like was what time frame are you talking about right now, when fights are in school every day?
Speaker 2I mean, it started young, it started real young like 2000s I mean. So the first. If I had to guess, the first fight I saw was probably first second grade. Yeah, kids were fighting in second grade isn't that crazy.
Speaker 4That's like all you fucking know.
Speaker 2I mean, I got into a fight one time and it wasn't even a fight.
Speaker 4It was me.
Speaker 2I was in third grade. I was in third grade, my first and only fight too, bro.
Speaker 4Yeah, beat the shit out of a sixth grader. I felt like the man.
Speaker 2I felt like the man dog, that's badass, yeah, but I mean, because I mean you're fourth grade, you're looking up at a sixth grader Dude it's third grade on the basketball court outdoor in front of a bunch of other grown motherfucking kids cheering you on and shit.
Speaker 4Definitely feel like a man. Go on. Tell me about your story I don't want to take away from you.
Speaker 2No, I just went up behind my friend, my friend. I grabbed him, I bear hugged him and then he didn't know who it was. So like his automatic reaction is to just like turn around. And I think I don't know if he like saw me or what, but he just turned around and like slammed me, and then I got up and like I was pissed, you know. So I like get up and I pick him up and I slam him and then the teacher stopped it and I got suspended.
Speaker 5but it wasn't even a fight, you know, it was like I just picked up my friend he reacted and I reacted, so yeah, do you think um like we should be allowed to, like you know, beat the shit out of someone if they're in the wrong?
Speaker 4like no battery charges if, if there's a mutual agreement, yeah, yeah if the jury thinks he deserved it, if, if two people can come together and say let's do get out, let's sign some paperwork.
Speaker 2Yeah, respect them. So you think, yeah, if she can deal with it I mean, if you're assaulting somebody and they're, like you know, defenseless is different, but yeah, I mean you get into a fight.
Speaker 4I don't fucking like what you did. I stand up to you and I hit you and you fall to the ground. You know like I'm going to let you fucking get back up and we're going to talk until you're ready to fight again. You know what I'm saying. Unless I get back on, unless I get on you and just fucking start bashing your fucking teeth in like it's Fight Club, Like that scene in Fight Club when he's fucking.
Speaker 2I've never seen Fight.
Speaker 4Club Def fucking knocked out. That's fucked up. That's fair fighting, yeah, sometimes you go into a rage. That's how I was back then I feel like every Caucasian can relate to that them boys don't play around, I just lose it, I just black out.
Speaker 5That's how I was For real. I used to fight a lot.
High School Memories and Reconnections
Speaker 2Drywall Just covered in holes, riddled with holes. I'll fix you later, mom.
Speaker 5I want to ask about your adolescence, your teenage years. Were you on the South Side still?
Speaker 2I moved out here when I was 13.
Speaker 5Oh damn.
Speaker 2So my childhood was in the South Side and then middle school I went to Canyon Woods. You know, middle school I went to Canyon Woods.
Speaker 5Did you really?
Speaker 2I went to Canyon Woods, yeah, I went to Canyon Woods and then I went to South Elgin and then I met you at South Elgin. I went to South Elgin too. Yeah, southie Boys.
Speaker 4How did I meet you? Because my very first memory.
Speaker 2I remember exactly how we met.
Speaker 5When did you?
Speaker 2graduate for 2011. Do you know my cousin jeffrey? Jeffrey, gross jeffrey erwin jeffrey jeff erwin, that sounds familiar.
Speaker 5Yeah, was he blonde, yeah, he was blind. Did he play soccer no, yeah, he, uh, he he was like into like dirt, biking and stuff, jeff.
Speaker 2Irwin. You know, jeff Irwin.
Speaker 4I know him based on Max's communication.
Speaker 2I don't know him.
Speaker 5Damn, because he graduated right when in 2010. So I thought you might, oh you know what?
Speaker 2I do know him now that you said 2010. Yeah, I do know him he was dating a really hot chick.
Speaker 5I forgot her name.
Speaker 2I think I remember. Yeah, I do know him, though, like I can see his face now that you said 2010. Shout out to Jeff. Shout out, jeff he just had a kid.
Speaker 5You know, I hope everything is safe. Man Love you. But Hope everything is safe, man Love you. But yeah, that's crazy, you went to.
Speaker 2Canyon Woods. Yeah, man, it was a big culture shock, because I went from going to school with nothing but Mexican kids and black kids.
Speaker 4Right Going to South Island with a bunch of white kids.
Speaker 2I went to Canyon Woods and I saw my first Indian person. I saw my first Filipino. I was like he, he looks Chinese, but he looks like a spicy Chinese you know, like, and then, like, I realized what a Filipino was. You know, uh, shout out Eric.
Speaker 5Shout out Eric's mom he people don't know I'm Filipino yeah, I know about all that was your gym teacher, taft no, I had uh javingo and I'm talking about south south south.
Speaker 2Oh, uh, no, no I didn't have taft, I had, uh, I don't remember his name, he was a basketball coach.
Speaker 5yeah, that's the guy, that's half, that's a short guy. No, it was the other one, it was the older guy.
Speaker 2Oh, okay, all right, he coached at a university, I think like a long time before he started coaching at SC.
Speaker 5Did you play football at all?
Speaker 2I did yeah, you did yeah, so you were part of the squad with Texas and everybody. My junior year. I was, I didn't play my senior year. And Kenny Loudon yeah yeah, yeah, I didn't start, though. I never played in a game. Yeah, I was a bench player.
Speaker 4You were a bench player.
Speaker 2Yeah, I never saw any action. But I mean my work ethic wasn't there.
Speaker 5What was?
Speaker 2your position. I was a defensive tackle, a defensive tackle, but I mean, look at my height. I don't have any height. I was just fat. I was just really I. I was just fat and there was no other position I could play. You know, you're not just, you're not gonna go off height and say, okay, he's a safety. You know, you gotta, you gotta have the attributes to play a certain position and you know, being just just being big. You know, you're naturally there at that defensive spot.
Speaker 5So when you are graduating in 2011,. That's crazy. I was in school as a freshman when you were a senior.
Speaker 2So was my sister. You probably know my sister. Who's your sister? Jessica Meza, my cousin went there too.
Speaker 5Sounds familiar and it was Lily Gonzalez. I know Lily Gonzalez yeah that's my cousin, First cousin.
Speaker 2Shout out Lily.
Speaker 5Yeah.
Speaker 2Shout out Lily.
Speaker 5Actually, you know, it's kind of funny. I hit her up a few times on Facebook and she left me on read. Like probably like four or five times.
Speaker 4You know I'm that guy shout out to lily, she's listening. Yeah, I hope you didn't cuss lily out no, no, no whatever she's like, he's like.
Speaker 2I didn't even like you anyway with a few extra words eric was talking about that.
Speaker 5Like when a guy goes up to a girl at a bar and he's like, uh, you know, let me get that number this. And then the girl like it's like no, I'm not really interested. And he's like, fuck you, you stupid bitch fucking. Eric's like. Eric's like why are you gonna like change up on?
Embarrassment and Memories of Youth
Speaker 4like it's such a week it is. It's an. It's an embarrassment to the rest of the men out here you gotta take accountability for not being able to pull.
Speaker 4Bro, fuck all that. Take accountability. And you know, if you think about it, you just look dumb. Bro, just because she don't like you today don't mean she won't like you in the future. So you losing your fucking emotional stability and showing how much of a weak man you are and then insulting her, calling her a bitch, right after you just called her beautiful just because she left you on reggie or because she declined you or rejected you, bro, you completely annihilated any chance you have with her in the future. You have no idea what could happen in life on her end, but maybe she'll catch her man cheating and maybe she'll look at her dms and you're the last dm and she knows that this guy likes me.
Speaker 4Maybe she'll hit you with a hey after that stressful moment. You know, you don't know bro.
Speaker 3Life works in mysterious ways.
Speaker 4But you acting like a fucking nincompoop, all right. You acting like a mark-ass buster, completely ruining your own chances. You're self-sabotaging and you're embarrassing the rest of us.
Speaker 2And you showed your true colors at the end of the day.
Speaker 4That's the kind of man you are.
Speaker 2When things don't go your way, you turn into a piece of shit.
Speaker 5Because if you actually walk away and say, okay, I respect that, they're going to think that was weird.
Speaker 2She's going to think, wow, I'm glad I said no. Usually Facts. You're done. Yeah, you gave her validation excommunicated.
Speaker 5Yeah, you're cut off, so um so you, you graduate, what do you start?
Speaker 2like your job, like and everything my job, my job now you go to college oh yeah, I went to college for a year. I I went to the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago.
Speaker 4Hey, I went to your. Damn you, bringing me back memories that I completely forgot. I went to your orientation, bro. I sat in the classroom with a bunch of other people in orientation.
Speaker 3You went while I was there yeah.
Speaker 4Remember we rode the train to go to that orientation at the Art Institute. You were there with me. Yeah, I was wearing a Michael Jordan jersey. Yeah, I remember that shit. Wow, I remember that shit. That was so long ago, max, I smoked my first motherfucking cigarette with this motherfucker that day. You wanted it to be cool. No, no, on some bum shit, bro. Dumb shit.
Speaker 2I can't believe I'm about to say this on air, bro, but we're going up the escalator at union station, oh, and we found, we found a cigarette. We found a cigarette just sitting there out just out on the fucking what was it?
Speaker 4up the escalator g, on the ledge. Hey yo, as we're going up, we're going up right, and we look at each other, bum shit we, we look at each other like Wanna smoke it.
Speaker 2It could've been dipped in acid Dude we could've.
Speaker 4We could've ended our lives right there. It could've been laced Dumb as fuck. Kids, bro, we're kids, stupid Kids On the way. So not only did we go to this college orientation, we went smelling like a stale ass. Marlboro G.
Speaker 5Was it worth it? Was it worth it? Look at the camera.
Speaker 4It's worth it now, because we're laughing about it.
Speaker 2It was absolutely 100% worth it. Because we're laughing about it? And I can tell my kids do not fucking, smoke cigarettes and find at Union Station. I have not been the same since you make sure you buy packs.
Speaker 4And thinking back at it, why did you think it was okay to invite two of your friends to an orientation to a school that they not even applied for?
Speaker 2Why not?
Speaker 4He's like I don't want to go alone.
Speaker 5Did you guys follow the tour? Yeah, we were honestly not going to lie. No, we stayed together the whole time. Did you guys follow the tour, yeah, or did you go your separate ways?
Speaker 4No, we stayed together the whole time we were there. We even went around in the group. Say your name to the class and say what you do.
Speaker 5Yeah, Like, my name is Eric Dutchman.
Speaker 4Hell. No, my name's Erratic. I make music. No, no.
Speaker 2He wasn't Erratic then he was Halfman, he was half man, he was half man. Wow, yeah, yeah, that's, and I wasn't the Spanish one, I was code blue Code blue, you were Bro, you know what, just for this, and I was max CG.
Speaker 5Let's go.
Speaker 4Just for this, just for this I'm putting, I'm finding, I'm digging in the motherfucking treasure, treasure chest I'm thinking, whatever you want to call it, and I'm finding a track we did back in the day and that's gonna be the outro, we got at least five right, I'm gonna find one we'll find the best one.
Speaker 5There was a lot that we just didn't put out so are you like? So you happy, like how everything turned out?
Speaker 2you know, like in my life.
Career Transitions and Grilling Passion
Speaker 5Yeah. So you said you went to college, you probably did some odd jobs after right, and then you started working for Weber.
Speaker 2So I went to college. I went for a year. I dropped out after that year was over.
Speaker 5Fucking loser. No, I'm just kidding Fucking idiot.
Speaker 2No, I just wasn't taking it serious and I got a job at an, an engineering factory in saint charles. I worked there for eight years. I I'd never worked a day in my life a fabrica, sir. You know I was. I was so miserable at times. I'm just thinking like man, this is temporary, I'm not going to work here for as long as these guys. I'm sitting in meetings and they're handing out 10-year certificates like wow, thank you for working here for 10 years.
Speaker 5I'm thinking wow, that guy's a fucking loser.
Speaker 2You're like I'm going to be that loser. No.
Speaker 5I was like I'm glad I'm not going to be him. And then I hit year eight. I'm glad I'm not going to be him.
Speaker 2And then I hit year eight and I'm like fuck man. But, you know like to be honest. I was happy with the way my career there was going because I wasn't just doing the same thing. I was constantly moving up the ladder and I enjoyed it. I learned a lot.
Speaker 4no-transcript like electric generating windmills what happened to the job you were at for eight years?
Speaker 2um, pandemic hit and they just let people know.
Speaker 4And you were one of them, thanks. Thanks for being here for eight years.
Speaker 2Yeah, thanks, gotta go, you know what it was a blessing in disguise, though like I. I went through a lot of tough shit during that span and I embraced it. I mean, even then I was thinking like you know, fuck it, I'm gonna just roll with this I tell people about the tough shit. What do you mean? Tough shit I mean just like not having money to support your previous lifestyle. You, you were living a certain lifestyle and all of a sudden that gets swept.
Speaker 4So you were climbing the ranks for eight years at this one job got a nice, nice little pay rate, and then I got it set up and then when they let you go. Then you drop down to the minimum wage shit.
Speaker 2I drop down to that. $15 an hour type shit. Damn humbling, humbling like.
Speaker 4In the middle of a pandemic where everyone's minds are fucked up at the same time.
Speaker 5And where jobs are unavailable.
Speaker 2I honestly I honestly was like I'm going to file for unemployment because I'm unemployed, but I never stopped looking for a job. And then, the week that my unemployment was approved, I got a call from one of the jobs that I ended up working for and they told me come in tomorrow, we'll start you tomorrow. I'm like fuck, I just got approved for unemployment. If I say no and you know, this unemployment office finds out I'm gonna get in trouble. So I got scared, I got scared.
Speaker 2I'm like man, I'm gonna feel like a scammer. You know, they got me a job and I'm sitting here collecting money 90 percent of people would have took.
Speaker 4That I know, I know and I said I'll see you I was just like you know what?
Speaker 2nah, I'm not gonna do, it'm going to do what's right.
Speaker 5What job was it?
Speaker 2It was a plastic mold injection setup, so I was setting up molds in these giant machines. These molds probably weighed like 800 pounds each and you'd lift them by crane. It was like an overhead crane. You had this like control device up down, left, right, but it was like northwest, east, south so where did the, where did the humbleness come from?
Speaker 4when did you get?
Speaker 2it was. It was an insane amount of work for the pay, like I had never worked that hard for so little pay. But you know I just I didn't go in there look like man, fuck this.
Speaker 4You know I was, I was more like, let's go, let's do it.
Speaker 2And it was cool because I just knew, obviously, I was better than what I was doing. I knew my skill set was worth more. I was doing entry-level jobs and I wasn't being utilized the way that I know I could be, so I just used it as an opportunity to better myself in different aspects at least you weren't like a pompous, entitled bitch.
Speaker 5I wasn't like you like weren't saying like, oh, I'm not gonna do this job because I just had this job, because a lot of people were like that. My brother is like that, joe rex rex. My brother is like that, ciao, rex Rex. My brother is like that. He's like I know my worth this and that I ain't working there and you're going into entry-level jobs. When did you get the job at Weber?
Speaker 22021.
Speaker 5Okay, and what pulled you to grilling? Did you just get?
Speaker 2a job at.
Speaker 5Weber and you're like you know what, I'm going to try grilling. I got a job at Weber and you're like you know, I'm gonna try grilling. I got a job at.
Speaker 2Weber, I was gifted a grill and I saw that as an opportunity to to do what I had already liked I had already liked cooking, that was something that I enjoyed and to to put another, to bring a grill into that and like, just put my own touch on the food and people enjoy it it was very rewarding and I wanted to not only apply myself towards getting better at grilling, but I just wanted to be able to feed people.
Speaker 4Can we just put some light again on the person that gave you that gift, because? That one gift changed the trajectory of your hobby and your passion, just from a gift shout out my old boss Mitch.
Speaker 2He's a great guy. He gave me an opportunity.
Speaker 2I'm just kidding he actually called me and I was at my old job. I was working for that windmill factory. I liked it there. The pay wasn't great, but the people there were great. And I was at my old job. I was working for that windmill factory. I liked it there. The pay wasn't great but the people there were great. And it was very technical. Everything you were doing was based off of a blueprint and you had to get everything right to spec, because it's a very important job. There's a ton of money going into those things.
Speaker 2And anyway, um, I'm working, I'm on my lunch break and mitch who I didn't know at the time calls me. He says hey, I saw your resume. You know I I have this position open. I think you're a great fit, so call me back. I didn't. I didn't answer. This is this. This is an unknown number that I saw.
Speaker 2I sent it to voicemail and then I listened to it the very next day. I didn't even listen to it the same day and I was like you know what? I let a day go by. I'm like I'm not going to call him back because I like it here, I like what I'm doing. I'm like man, I'm going to just call him back, see what's up. And then he told me hey, you know, this is the position, this is what we're offering. And I countered him with another price, another pay rate and he's like all right. He's like all right, cool, let's do it. And then he's like all right, just, I'm going to send you over to HR. They'll call you a day, maybe tomorrow. They set you up. She called me, she set me up. I was there a week later.
Speaker 5Nice.
Speaker 2It worked out. I like it there. People were nice.
Speaker 5Just because of that grill, you get on WGN and now you start living life to the max right Living life to the max For real man. That's what you were doing. You were on TV, you got Claire up in your shower.
Speaker 4I'll correct it a little bit. He was living life to the max when he decided to take the job, instead of being an unemployment citizen.
Speaker 2I was living life to the max when I was born, baby. Ooh, there you go. I was living life to the max when. I was born baby.
Speaker 5Ooh, there you go, I'm here. Came out to Vijay living life to the max. I'm here, man, I'm blessed.
Speaker 2I'm so blessed, I'm so thankful for just not only like being here. You know like I really enjoy being around you guys and listening to your story. You know I got to know Eric quite a bit in our younger years but I mean just overall like blessed man. There's no better feeling than like acknowledging that we appreciate that.
Speaker 5What are some of the little things that you like think of, that you don't think of and that you have, but um can be taken away from you in a split second um, I recently lost my grandmother, but that that was like a, a life-shifting moment, just from the perspective of man.
Speaker 2I wish I could have done this different, because we grew up very close-knit with her. She was always very supportive. She basically raised me and you know she knew how much I loved her. I always gave her a ton of love. She always gave me a ton of love back. And you know, as we got older, know you start to live your own life. You start to live, you know, not distantly from your other relatives. But it's not like when you're a kid. You know you need them to, to guide you and, uh, you know you just wish you would have spent more time with them. You wish you would have taken the opportunity to, to stop by every now and then. But that really gave me a different perspective. Once I lost her, I I genuinely don't take moments that I spent with people for granted. I I take the time. Anytime I'm with anyone, I take the time to say, okay, like I'm here with this person, I'm relishing their presence.
Speaker 2This is beautiful Because you just never know when it's going to go. You know that opportunity is never going to be there again One day, you know.
Speaker 5Blood is thicker than water, so I totally understand what you're saying.
Speaker 4I mean with anyone that people could again, like Max said, split second bro. Yeah, honestly, realistically, this could be the last time we see Louis. This could be the last time Louis sees me or Max.
Speaker 5Yeah, like in a split second. I was in a hospital. I almost died from septic shock. I think I told you that the last time.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 4We were hanging out last year and you're here, yeah, and you're here with us season two, you know, let's go word up from lewis man and appreciate the presence with the loved ones.
Speaker 5Appreciate the presence of everyone that you bond with and we appreciate you coming on the show man. If, uh, if anybody got this far, comic grill, comic grill comment hold on what's your, what's your brand mesa grill comment mesa grill hashtag spell it
Speaker 2out for the people m as in mary e z as in zebra, a grill there you go all right, so I'm surprised you didn't come rocking your hat, bro
Speaker 4what hat, I thought you got.
Speaker 2A mesa hat, I thought you got what I don't have one, I need one though, put that out.
Speaker 4What were you wearing, uh, on the wgn show? I thought I was wearing this hat actually, oh, shout out the bears, even though they fucking suck man hey, we go way back, and earlier in the show you were going to tell that story about how we met. Honestly, I totally forgot, so I want you to remind me we were in uh in the lunchroom was the lunchroom. So, in my memory, I came up to you and we both had the same fucking ipod with the what's that yeah, the click wheel, the click wheel and I think we were just exchanging instrumentals yeah, you were like yo what are you?
Speaker 2listening to, because you saw me with my headphones in that's it. Yeah, hey, what you listening to doc yeah, and I was like shit, you don't know nothing about this, I was like what is that instrumental?
Speaker 4it was Big L, I was listening to Big L yeah. And then we started talking about making music.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah. I mean, I knew you rapped, I knew you made music, I had known who you were. I just never like met you and then, yeah, you were just like what are you listening to? You came up to me like yo, what are you listening to? And I was like big L boy, you don't know nothing about that boy.
Speaker 4And then, yeah, we just we ended up rapping there right on the spot, maybe I think so. I remember there was a time where everywhere.
Speaker 2When it was me, you and d freestyling everywhere, everywhere. It was annoying because we were always the kids rapping, you know you should, uh, come to the studio with us, because we're gonna go to the studio thing, I don't do that anymore, oh.
Speaker 4Ooh, say it on the show Max, we're going to book a studio session, we're going to vlog that shit. I'll be there. I'll be there.
Speaker 5Nosotros vamos en el estudio.
Speaker 4You still got it in you. I don't Nah Dig deep.
Speaker 2I don't feel it. I don't feel like I am that person you know, max can wrap his ass off I feel like I I can see that I could definitely see rap or something like insane clown posse. Max got bars I'm just some j cole shit for real.
Speaker 4He's like I can see that shit, this new age machine gun, kelly shit old school machine gun, kelly, yeah, okay, yeah, okay, all right beastie boys yeah, what's on the episode roasting maximilian gross that we can't stand down a boy max.
Speaker 2We used to wrap our ass off, bro, everywhere we went I know.
Speaker 5This is all I hear from him. He told me a story about his friends' parents came home and they weren't supposed to come home, and then they saw Eric.
Speaker 3Oh shit, Shout out to Scotty and.
Speaker 5Eric was like. I know you don't know me, listen, hold on.
Speaker 3He left the detail out.
Speaker 4Scotty left to get liquor, so Scotty left with his homie. It's just me and two women that I brought for company, right? So I'm sitting in Scotty's home, keep in mind. I just met Scotty, you know, and he trusted me in his fucking home, 19 years old. Was he right Irresponsible Three strangers in his home.
Speaker 2Yeah, totally irresponsible, I would have never Imagine so.
Speaker 4Imagine that's terrifying. As a parent, you come to your home, very nice home.
Speaker 2You see this Puerto Rican looking, fellow. You see this Puerto Rican wearing baggy ass clothes.
Speaker 4Yeah, bald head.
Speaker 2He's wearing Echo or South Pole. He looks like a Mexican.
Speaker 4No, that's early high school where I have no. Oh, this was after.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 4In college.
Speaker 2I was wearing. Oh, so he was wearing gray and black. Yeah, and he was rocking silver jeans.
Speaker 4So the parents walk in just give me a look, like who the fuck are you? They don't even say nothing. I could see them processing like fucking Scotty. You know, like Scotty had people, you know, and I was like listen, I know I'm a stranger, but let me introduce myself properly. I'm Eric. You know, shake their hands. Hands. I'm like can I rap for y'all?
Speaker 4and they're like, yeah, you know, and I just fucking spit some shit for them and I rapped for them and they're like, wow, that was actually, that was actually really good, you know. And like I just have a normal conversation with them for about 10-15 minutes before scotty comes walking in the door with alcohol and he's underage and uh, yeah and yeah.
Speaker 5So my parents were like you know he, you know he's a very nice, he's a good guy.
Speaker 4Yeah, give him the bottle.
Speaker 5Yeah, give him the bottle.
Speaker 4You want some dinner? Are you hungry? I'm just kidding. They didn't offer me dinner, but yeah, basically that's how it went down and ever since then Scotty's been a trusted friend. You know he looks out for. Come on the show one day. Shout out to Scotty.
Speaker 2Are you guys doing like a Halloween episode?
Speaker 4No, we're going to make it about serial killers. We're going to say it now Keep in tune. All October we talk about gruesome shit, serial killer shit. We're going to have new guests, they're going to talk about their story, everyone's going to share their story, but then we're going to transition.
Speaker 5You know, I kind of want to dig deep on these shooters. Talk about shooters.
Speaker 4We can go back in the Renaissance days, we can talk about torture devices. What else? This is brainstorming for the future. What else?
Speaker 2Chicago-like shooters too.
Speaker 5Unsolved crimes. Hh Holmes, the guy from Cicero. He had the murder fucking mansion. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah. Hh Holmes was a serial killer and he was in Chicago and he would target the people who came to Navy Pier, the like travelers, and say he has a hotel and like they would walk in alright, alright, alright, we gonna save it for next month.
Speaker 4We gonna save it for next month. Scary and we to wrap up this episode. Hey yo drop your Instagram handle, or however you want motherfuckers to contact you to cater to their event.
Speaker 2You can DM me at messagrill on Instagram. And you know, I'll give you a menu you can choose whatever you want.
Speaker 4Hey, yo don't sleep on the boy. That shit was fire. I'm about to go get more. That's why I want to wrap up this episode.
Speaker 2Hey, yo, look at the camera and tell the people your name and you're living life to the max. My name is Luis Mesa and I'm always living life to the max. Baby, stay blessed. Thank you guys for having me. I love you, I appreciate you and and I'm looking forward to being back. I really want to do this again. I had a great time.
Speaker 4All right, you coming back, because we're going to need you to hit that grill again.
Speaker 5We need the wings. Hell yeah, let's get that brisket at the port. You know the burnt hens and shit.
Speaker 2I can make all that shit, man. If you guys ever need me to do an event, I'm more than happy.
Speaker 5Let's go. Hey guys, if you Please like and subscribe. Hell yeah, you know.
Speaker 4Hey, leave some feedback too On to the next one. On to the next one and enjoy our old ass song From 2013. This is Half man in Code Blue.
Speaker 5And the chorus.
Speaker 4Well, yeah, yeah, do that. That's amazing.
Speaker 3Okay.
Speaker 3They ask me why I'm killing shit. I tell them that I got it. I told that girl To give me brains. She gave me album gotta. Then she gave me her medulla. I can make her my new tutor. And her cheeks are so fat boy. I call her ass Buddha. Now she naked in a hula hoop. She say she want something new. Introduce her to my friend, cause she think she is cute. That's a menage a trois.
Speaker 3I took him back to the car, beat him both when I was raw and dropped em off at the bar. I went and got a checkup. Doctor said I'm so sick and I think that I'm addicted. All I spit is dope shit. I'm focused. I notice that Women be loving this lotion, rubbing their shoulders and rubbing their back. I'm getting it wet as an ocean. They tell me come on, bro, all you rappers About is bitches. That thick chick, that rich bitch. Come on, man, be different. Saying you gave the best sex ever. That's some lame shit. Well, ask your girl about me, nigga, she gon' say the same shit. Yeah, and any bitch that might even see my face on this here can come on and fuck with me Right now.
Speaker 1Yo yo yo, yo, yo yo yo yo yo yo, yo Riding with my left hand what an oxymoron. Transforming my tempo, kinda like Voltron. That's what this instrumental is. I'm going mental kid. I'm stepping out my stencil. See two of me, that's double the pencil. So as I write, I continue to go left, never losing track of the words that come out next, stuck in for your bad vibes. Call that my sixth sense. Hating on my desire. I work every damn day but I'm never tired. These old cats with no skill all gotta retire, slashing all they tires, Sparking my own fire. This is how I do this, how I leave my damn self clueless, scratching rapper's name off my to-do list. Kill him, bag him or take him in for ransom. Got your mama asking you why I'm so handsome, how she go from that topic to her having a grandson. It's that music to get lost in Water out the faucet, hey bro love me, but these niggas hate me.
Speaker 3None of my concern. Passed the green. It got me feeling lazy. This is stress relief.
Speaker 1Beyond my own belief, my mind ran away. I knew I should've used the leash.
Speaker 3Yeah, we off the chain like some stray dogs we bout to take off.
Speaker 1We ain't the same, you just play hard Trees got us climbing up the sun rays. You wanna be in my lane, but this street's a one way.
Speaker 3That's a one way make it cock and back. No gunplay With people watching us it sounded like a fun day.
Speaker 1So how can it be cloudy on a sunday, people cheesing because the music's super funky? Where do I begin? I'm addicted to sin. I never finish my stories because I can never see an end. These people hate and expecting an explanation.
Speaker 3I'd rather get on the knees and blow trees like the wind. Let the sun shine. Let the sun shine, let the sun shine. Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while and you shouldn't have fucked with them. That's me.